Of the seven beautiful ones，Merope was the quietest and the easiest to overlook．She herself became accustomed to blending into the back—ground，and found a way to content herself with that．“Everyone is al—ways watching them，”she thought，“SO they have to be perfect．No one watches me；I can settle for being good．”
Her sisters went through the world being cherished and adored and sought after by all manner of young men．Merope watched the parade pass by her quiet comer，pleased that it made her sisters happy．To amuse herself，she learned to read and write and began writing down her fanta—sies of what her life would be like if she were as beautiful and brilliant as her siblings．
The other six pitied Merope，for while mey thought themselves beau—tiful，to them she was only pretty．Where they were vibrant with the joy of life，Merope wore a dreamy countenance that many found uninviting．She seemed SO taken with the world of her dreams that they assumed she was unhappy with her lot．
The young men continued to come and go，changing as frequently as her sisters’whims．The only male face Merope saw with any regularity was Sisyphus，the mason who was building a stone wall~ound theirproperty．Her sisters paid him no heed，for he didn’t wear fine clothes and didn’t bring them gifts．He would come into the kitchen through theback door and would ask Merope to find her father for him to answer some question or other about the exact placement of the wall．
Merope noticed that Sisyphus treated her with complete respect，andseemed to genuinely care when he asked how she was．On occasion，hewould bring her a bucket of berries or a bag of apples he’d found in hiswanderings，and Merope would blush as she accepted these gifts．Her sisters laughed at her，and the gifts from Sisyphus，for the flocks of youngmen who swarmed about her sisters offered them iewels and roses，laceand furs．
But the quiet Merope was inwardly thrilled by these homely trib—utes．“Anyone can buy a ruby，”she told them，“anyone can buy a roseor a fur．But not one of those dandies would spend a morning or an after—noon collecting fruit in the broiling sun，being tortured by buzzing，bitingflies for one of you．”Her sisters laughed at that，but a little less brilliant—ly than they had before．
One afternoon，Merope’S father went out into the fields with Sisy—phus．tO explain t0 him where he wanted the fence placed．A short timelater，a soaked Sisyphus carried the unconscious，equally drenched maninto the kitchen and laid him on the table．He barked orders to Merope，telling her to find clean towels and fetch some brandy．
The story was told in gasps，between sips of the strong liquor．Herfather had been backing up，holding a ***tant to his eye，and had falleninto the deep，swift fiver than ran along the edge of their property．Sisy—phus had immediately plunged in after him，and had pulled him from the cola Waier．
After he recovered，the grateful man offered Sisyphus anyone of his daughters for his wife．The daughters were summoned to his stu#，six of them crying and protesting that Sisyphus was unworthy．Merope took her customary place in the comer，smiling serenely and saying nothing．
Their father became angry and told the girls sharply that they were being ungrateful and that Sisyphus had proven himself worthy without a doubt by saving his life．At his admonition，their cries became sniffles，and they sat quietly，swollen—eyed and sullen．